A bike helmet that filters out harmful emissions from the air is protecting riders in Recent Delhi and other Indian cities that rank amongst essentially the most polluted on the earth.
Shellios Technolabs, the Recent Delhi-based startup that developed the helmet, says filters utilized in it may well remove PM 2.5 and other toxic, vehicular emissions which tens of millions of two-wheeler riders are directly exposed to on Indian roads.
“For the reason that whole purifying system — including rechargeable batteries, blower and electronic circuit board — is situated behind the fiberglass helmet it doesn’t interfere with the bike rider’s movements or vision but creates a clean, purified air space immediately behind the clear visor,” Amit Pathak, considered one of the corporate founders, tells SciDev.Net.
Motorcycles, scooters and other two-wheelers are a vital means of non-public transport in India and in 2019 there have been greater than 221 million registered units within the country. Throughout the 2021 – 2022 financial yr, over 13 million units were sold.
Shellios Technolabs received seed funding from India’s Department of Science and Technology and support from the Science and Technology Entrepreneur Park (STEP), to develop the helmet which is now being sold commercially at US$56.
It says the 1.5kg head gear conforms to government safety and ergonomic standards and has shown, in controlled test environments, to cut back PM 2.5 particles and other outdoor pollutants by 80 per cent.
“The anti-pollution helmet was considered one of the more promising products taken up for support by STEP considering that it had real advantages for the general public that struggles to deal with extremely high levels of pollution in India’s major cities,” says Deepthi Shanmugam, the Bangalore-based chief executive of the Academy of Technical Education that works with STEP.
Recent Delhi and Kolkata were ranked because the world’s two most polluted cities by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Massachusetts, US, of their Air Quality and Health in Cities in a report released on 17 August.
The report which ranked cities on the premise of two major air pollutants — advantageous particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) — found the best population-weighted annual average PM2.5 exposure in 2019 to be in Delhi at 110 micrograms per cubic metre, followed by Kolkata at 84 micrograms per cubic metre.
The WHO — which considers PM 2.5 to be the only biggest environmental threat to human health — recommends that annual average concentrations of PM2.5 mustn’t exceed five micrograms per cubic metre.
Our helmet has patented air purifying accessories including a silent blower fan that pulls air through disposable, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter membrane and is powered by rechargeable batteries.”
Amit Pathak, Founder, Shellios Technolabs
HEPA filters are already widely utilized in air purifiers present in homes, offices and restaurants in Recent Delhi. The India air purifier market, price US$74.8 million in 2020, is projected to succeed in US$565.7 million by 2027, in accordance with Blue Wave Consulting, which attributes the market growth to rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, leading to poor air quality and widespread respiratory ailments.
Pathak says that future versions of the helmet would incorporate air-conditioning and hands-free operation of mobile phones through a wireless link. The helmet already connects via Bluetooth to a cell phone to warn the wearer when it’s time to change the filter. “The main target, for now, is on ensuring breathable air for motorcycle riders in Indian and other heavily polluted South Asian cities like Kathmandu and Dhaka,” Pathak adds.
Bhupendra Das, air quality specialist and chair at Nepal Energy and Environment Development Services, says that of the three.2 million vehicles registered in Nepal over the past 20 years 80 per cent were two-wheelers. “Given the sharp rise in PM 2.5 air pollution attributable to congested traffic conditions in Kathmandu, an air-purifying helmet can be a boon to two-wheeler riders.”
Das says the HEPA filter within the helmet could reduce exposure to pollutants related to respiratory, cardio-vascular, allergic hypersensitivity ailments that are on the rise in Nepal. “Governments in South Asia should consider the introduction of such revolutionary devices as a part of policy instruments being implemented to cope with high pollution levels, together with other measures.”
In July, India’s national capital region, which incorporates Recent Delhi, introduced a series of measures to “prevent, control and abate air pollution” through restrictions on industries, vehicular transportation, construction, municipal solid waste burning, and crop-residue burning.
Smog towers with filters have been installed in known pollution hotspots and anti-smog guns able to blasting and settling dust have been placed near construction sites. Nevertheless, these haven’t shown tangible effects on the ever-rising levels of aerial pollution.